


World Without a Justice League

by Merfilly



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drug Use, Gen, Telepathic Bond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-20
Updated: 2014-03-20
Packaged: 2018-01-16 09:11:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,665
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1341454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Merfilly/pseuds/Merfilly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The League is taken from the world into Limbo to sharpen Loki's forces for the coming Ragnarok. The Titans do their best, while the League faces challenges of its own in that far realm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Abduction

**Author's Note:**

> The first part was written for a comic big bang. The rest evolved from there.

Snapper Carr had been on the very outskirts of the battle that erupted. The League had been there to be honored, the original five and their allies that had swelled the ranks to nine. Publicity stunts were usually carefully researched, to prevent just a thing from happening, but the power of the opponents involved had slipped past the Batman's careful evaluations.

Snapper had watched helplessly as the first blows of the fight had seen Superman slapped to the ground in a bath of green light. The massive brute of a man that had gotten his hands on Wonder Woman had seen a powerful fight before he managed to bind her. Snapper had no idea what or who these foes were, but he rushed in, yelling warnings to Green Arrow, to Green Lantern, hoping they'd rally and save the day like heroes did.

A frosty shove and then a powerful back hand from one of the half-giants there sent Snapper flying, putting him through the branches of a tree. As he slumped at the base of the tree, the battle scene ahead of him winked out of existence completely, taking the brightest shining lights of humanity with it to somewhere beyond reach.

* * *

Batman was the first one to come conscious, his body cold and stiff. None of his gear had been removed, but neither had he been deposited gently on the hard surface beneath him. He did not immediately move, using his ears to detect the others. Seven breathing patterns...and there was that low level mental presence that was Martian Manhunter.

One of the breathing patterns was in distress, and that made Batman finally risk looking around. Aquaman was very gray-tinged, and they were all in some form of icy cavern. The surprising thing is that none of them seemed to be restrained in any fashion, but the temperature was doing an adequate job of preventing consciousness for the more human, less protected members. He'd have to see to them after Aquaman though.

The Caped Crusader moved slowly, going to his teammate to find that the aquatic hero was having difficulty breathing the frozen air. The sound of a stream nearby was a comfort, if the temperatures were not beyond the range that Aquaman could bear. Batman took out a length of cord, making a shoulder harness that he slipped on the heavy hero, with a tether, before taking him to the stream. There was little choice but to put Aquaman in, but the tether would allow Batman to hold onto him and pull him back if necessary.

As it became apparent that Aquaman was going to do well in the frigid water, Batman secured the tether to the nearest outcropping of rock, just to be cautious, and made his way over to the others. Flash appeared to be subconsciously vibrating, as the ice around him had taken on a polished look from melting and refreezing. That was good, as Batman hypothesized the hyper-metabolism otherwise would have sped up the symptoms of hypothermia. A faint green glow told him that Green Lantern's ring was provided with rudimentary protective ability, even when the wielder was unconscious, or else Lantern's will was just being that stubborn even in unconsciousness.

Black Canary was his primary concern, for while both women were in similar lack of protective clothing, Wonder Woman was at least nigh-invulnerable. Black Canary on the other hand was barely classified as a meta-human. She was definitely showing classic signs of cold trauma, making the Batman move a little quicker to get her provided with warmth. He looked at his options, and surveyed his team. Green Arrow, better dressed, was showing the cold effects in his arms and face but two body heat sources would be better than one, prompting Batman to move him closer to the woman he was purportedly dating, before securing a space age blanket around them, having removed it from one of his pouches. When he saw the woman actually begin to shiver, he felt a touch of relief, as it meant they hadn't been here long enough for full metabolic lock down to set in.

That left him to check on the three least human members of the group. Martian Manhunter was unconscious enough to be in a form that Batman had never seen, something that resembled the cave structure itself, with spines and sharp angles. The pulse in the back of Batman's mind was the only indication he had that the alien survived at all, given that Martians did not breathe in quite the way humans did.

Diana was looking cold, but Batman only had the one blanket, and despite the voice in the back of his own head saying it would be interesting to find out, he had the impression letting her wake up that close to Green Arrow was a bad idea on several levels. However, there was an answer, and he set about removing his cape to settle it around the Amazon.

Superman, by the time he had Diana taken care of, had begun to stir weakly, still looking ashen from his encounter with whatever that green ray had been. Batman's radioactivity meter had not gone off, so it could not have been kryptonite, yet it had taken him down just as thoroughly.

"Superman?" Batman called.

"I'm here," the Kryptonian promised him, though with a rueful tone to his voice.

"Good. We're going to need to find rocks to warm with your heat vision, as a fire is not the best option for Martian Manhunter," Batman said clearly. "Effects of the battle and the cold seem to be keeping most of the team quiescent. We need to overcome the latter, so we can gauge the former."

"You're right," Superman told him, staggering to his feet. "If I can focus enough."

"You must, or Black Canary could very well freeze to death," Batman pointed out bluntly.

"I understand the need, Batman," Superman said, with an edge of frustration. "But my powers don't seem to be fully at my command."

"Ahh. This presents a problem."

"Make a fire," came the sonorous voice of their telepath. Batman turned to see as the spined creature slowly worked to a sitting position. "This is my natural form, and what I would revert to. I would prefer that I not frighten anyone, but they need warmth worse than I need to protect any secret I might have kept."

"You don't need to worry about us being frightened, Martian Manhunter," Batman said. "Remember that we are here as your teammates, and accept you as one of us."

"I will help find the materials," the Martian said in turn, acknowledging the tacit reprimand with a nod. "I am better prepared for this cold at this point, given how thin Martian atmosphere was."

"Thank you, Manhunter."

"I'll go...the cold's not that bad to me," Superman said in turn. "Between the two of us, we should be able to scout the area and get back quickly."

"Leave the scouting for Flash at this point," Batman said. "Just get what we need and return."

"Look I'm just trying..."

"Superman." Wonder Woman's voice cut the air. "Batman is correct; we know you want to help. First, our more fragile companions must be cared for," she said to defuse the tension between those two. She pulled the cape tighter around her shoulders as she stood to go check on them, confident that Superman would be reasonable.

With a sigh of defeat, and feeling nearly useless without his full powers, the Kryptonian joined the Martian to do as commanded.

"Help me move the other four closer to one another? Flash's vibrations might help the other three." Batman looked at Wonder Woman with a neutral glance, and was rewarded with a nod back at him.

"You've been very quick to help us all; your stamina and strength must rival the gods themselves," she said.

"I know the tales of what happens to those who attempt it, Wonder Woman." He shook his head as they went to move Hal first, placing him beside Green Arrow. "No, my suit is equipped with a bio-monitor and adjusts the climate control accordingly."

Diana smiled. "Wise as one of Athena's chosen then." She helped him bring Flash over, and then they settled both the blanket and the cape over them, as Diana willed herself not to let the cold bite into her skin.

"If you say so," he rumbled, before going to check on Aquaman. He wasn't terribly surprised to find the other hero warily regarding his circumstances and unfastening the harness as he tread water. "I hoped the cold would revive you, once you could breathe better," Batman called.

"Not my favorite swimming environment, but invigorating," Aquaman replied. He climbed out of the frigid stream and came up beside the dark hero. "What can you tell us?"

"Not much yet. But we'll determine the data, and then act accordingly," Batman promised him.

"No doubt we will," Aquaman agreed.

* * *

Martian Manhunter and Superman returned with armloads of wood and bones about the time that both Flash and Green Lantern were fully coherent and Green Arrow was groggily coming around. Wonder Woman had taken the other woman out of his hold, and Batman had wrapped the blanket around them, while giving Green Arrow the cape to aid his warmth. With the fuel for a fire, Batman checked to see if he had an appropriate way to start it, but Flash was ahead of him.

Martian Manhunter moved as far from the slowly growing blaze as he could, staying in the shadows the flickering light and sky glow from outside the cave caused. Batman wasn't sure if it was because of the fire, or his fear of how the others would react.

"So much easier to pull that Boy Scout trick now," Flash said, as much to lighten the mood as anything. Nothing except their location implied prisoners, as they all had their tools of their trade, and none of them had been unmasked.

It was enough to make them all a little tense, and the air was oppressive with it. Superman seemed to be handling it the worst, typical for a being that was accustomed to being able to fix anything at all. Batman took stock of where they were, and then went outside to survey what could be seen from the cave. He saw a bleakly wintry landscape, with scraggly trees at this height, but a richer forest down below. No sign of civilization from here, and there was a quality to the air that said this was not quite Earth. 

Whomever their foes had been, and he had ideas, had taken them and marooned them far from help, but Batman was adamant that they would not only survive, but win a way back. He squelched thoughts of home behind his emotional shields for now, of blue eyes in a laughing face, of gentle patience in older lines. He had to think, not feel, for now.

* * *

The group of heroes from Earth had barely begun to get their plans of exploration into place, with one to remain in the cave guarding the still weakened Black Canary, when Superman's ears picked up the sound of their foes approaching. The clink of armor and armaments caught his ears from far enough out that the eight of them who were fully able to fight were in defensive positions.

Wonder Woman and Superman took point, despite how badly that had worked in the first fight, as the Amazon's sense of diplomacy insisted on trying to learn why they had been abducted. That diplomacy did not last past the enemy sighting her, and rushing in for the attack.

Batman remained on the edges of the fight, studying the enemies. This second engagement, brutal and vicious, confirmed his first impressions of Norse mythology. All of their foes looked as if they had walked out of a Wagner performance done in heightened realism. The frost giants were bad enough, but the giant churlish wolves had teeth and claws that evidently had magical enhancement by the way they hurt Superman. Worst, the one that stood apart on the edges of the battle fit Bruce's impressions of Loki, and it was he who had shone the ray of green light that had crippled the Man of Steel in the first fight, though he made no attempt to use it now.

The fight raged around the cave until one frost giant broke free and forced his way inside the cave, where Black Canary had remained on orders from everyone on the team. There was nothing but reaction on the part of the weakened woman, a Cry that reverberated in the cave and then out amplified by the cave's acoustics.

{Everyone inside!} flashed between Batman and the Martian Manhunter before the alien flashed it out to his teammates on the heels of an ominous rumble. Superman was able to heave the reeling intruder out to his cohort and all of them were safely inside the cave as the snows above began their inexorable slide down, shaken free by the harmonics of their teammate.

"Sorry?" came the hoarse, sheepish apology as the snow stopped...and the entrance was solidly blocked.

"Don't apologize, Pretty Bird," Green Arrow told her, fiercely glaring at the rest of them to challenge that she needed reassured on her actions.

"Her actions may have trapped us in here, and how long will the fire burn with no air?" Batman pointed out.

"We're all safe," Martian Manhunter told them all. "Quick actions from all of us insured this. We will overcome the snow, and then we shall cope with our enemies."

"Manhunter, you're always the wise one," Flash said, even as he moved over to Black Canary's side and clasped her shoulders gently to reassure her. She smiled up at him, even as Green Lantern came closer to her and Flash. It did not take long before Aquaman was sitting beside them on the ledge they had made into a bed for the human woman.

Batman saw the beginnings of a difficult bridge to cross, as the original group came together, with himself, Wonder Woman, and Superman to one side. Martian Manhunter remained neutrally in the middle of the cave, as far from the fire as he could be and still accessible, while Green Arrow gravitated to the originals out of longer, and more personal, association. If they were to survive, to win a way back home, the League needed to unify, fully.

* * *

Black Canary shifted from the warm pile of Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and the Flash. The three men stayed close together, barely aware that the 'excuse' they had given for sleeping in a tangle had left them, moving toward the coldest part of the cave where Aquaman and Martian Manhunter had settled. Their aquatic member did not need the heat as much as the rest, and refused to let their alien friend be alone.

Over near the partial effort to clear the entrance, she could see Batman still sleeping, his suit and cape insulating him in his solitariness, while Wonder Woman and Superman continued to scoop the snow out and pack the remainder in an attempt to make a stable tunnel to daylight. Fresh air still circulated, keeping the small fire stoked, but Aquaman said it was likely coming in with the water, as the stream's head was the only opening he had found in his attempt to explore.

She looked at both men with a smile, and saw it returned with quite a bit of relief. She was their friend, youngest of their original team, and seeing her so weakened from the cold had scared them a little. 

She nodded when Manhunter unfurled his cape in offering, sitting in against his side, and letting him wrap it around her. It was funny, how she had been one of the most vocal about his methods, and then the first to apologize to him over her suspicions. Since then, she'd looked at him as a big brother in a lot of ways, and now was no different. The closeness gave her another chance she wanted, though, as she thought as loudly as she could to him for him to open the mental link to her and Aquaman.

{Yes, Dinah?}

{We can't be divided like this. We need something more solid with the other three.}

Arthur nodded from his side. {Agreed. But I have doubts that the sharing of names would get us as far with them as with each other.}

J'onn appraised the team in its two different locations beyond their own, then nodded. {Batman likely knows most of us, but yes, I can see where that is not as significant a concession to them as it was when we crossed this bridge.}

{It is, however, a start,} Dinah said, and she was already tired of the wig trying to slip from too long on her head.

{Agreed.} J'onn smiled when she reached up to remove the thing, tucking the pins safely away for later use.

{We will survive this, and avenge ourselves on our enemies,} Arthur vowed softly, hearing the survival part echoed by both, and a tinge of agreement for the vengeance from Dinah. The small woman leaned in and hugged him, then J'onn, before going toward the two superheroes currently working on the tunnel, dropping the wig off first.

Wonder Woman did a minor double take to see a brunette join her, then frowned, because surely the woman should not be up and active so soon.

"I want to help." Black Canary's stubborn tone was clear on that point, as she gathered up one of the rough made shovels.

"You will get too cold; you were hypothermic." Wonder Woman shook her head and reached for that shovel. 

"Wonder Woman." Black Canary's voice was steel enough to make Superman pause in his work. "We are a team, no matter which of us is invulnerable. I'm hungry. That means getting to the outside and finding some form of food soon to take care of that. I know my limitations. Now trust my judgment there."

Wonder Woman paused, taken aback by the sudden bite in those words, and considered. She had meant only to keep the other woman from harm that she herself was not susceptible to, but Black Canary was not wrong. They were a team... and Canary was an experienced heroine in her own right. She pulled her hand back away from the shovel, nodding once -- and the realization that if Superman had been the one to speak so, she would have been the first to come to Canary's assistance did not set well with her.

The small heroine gave her teammate a smile then, to show no hard feelings. "You look like your mother when you get thoughtful," Black Canary told her, hoping this was the right way to break the ice to the other woman.

"...my mother?" Wonder Woman asked, slightly surprised, as she looked at Black Canary again. She was surely far too young to have ever seen Hippolyta in action as the Wonder Woman of the past, though her mother had told her stories of _a_ Black Canary.

"She visited, once or twice, when I was very small," Black Canary said, helping smooth out the tunnel carefully. "My uncle...Wildcat...brought her to see me, and my parents." She smiled softly at the other woman. "She completely approved of the fact Wildcat was already teaching me tricks."

Martian Manhunter turned a smile back to Aquaman, once he had discerned Canary's tactics. {She knows stories about Wonder Woman's mother, and is using them, much as she used to tell us tales.}

The aquatic hero grinned at that. {She's a lot smarter than most give her credit for.}

Wonder Woman looked at Black Canary in consideration. "I wouldn't mind hearing a little about my mother, from your childhood," she finally said, smiling a little at the other woman.

"I'd be glad to talk about Aunt Polly... both meeting her, and stories Wildcat used to tell me about her." She grinned. "He was so crazy about her."

"Really?" That surprised the Amazon quite a bit, remembering her mother's warnings against Man's World, and men in general.

"Really." Dinah nodded firmly. "Tell you later; we're probably boring Big Blue here."

"No, not really," Superman said with the guilty start of someone who had been listening in. Dinah laughed musically, moving closer to where he was working to help shape this tunnel they were making. "You know, I could always just try and punch out of here at speed."

"But that doesn't leave us poor ground bound folks a stable way in and out," Black Canary pointed out to him. "You're not doing too bad a job. Build a lot of snow forts as a kid, Big Blue?"

"Just one, really," he told her, with a smile that actually looked proud. "But the theory's not too hard."

"Not when Batman explains it that thoroughly," Wonder Woman interjected. That made all three of them laugh.

"I had to be certain you would build it correctly," came the voice of the man who had joined them quite silently.

Black Canary looked at him, saw him evaluating her lack of wig, and then she just shrugged. "Gotham doesn't give many chances for building them, does it?" she challenged him, soft and playful rather than let his mysterious ways set her teeth on edge.

"Not since you were very young, I'd say," he agreed with her, vaguely acknowledging that she and he were from the same city, even if Black Canary had long since left for the west coast.

She just smiled in response; dammit he was too off-putting for this situation, and possibly the single largest impediment to integrating the League into a cohesive team. He did not show any visible sign of relenting his hard-ass persona, though, which meant this was going to be difficult all the way around. Both Wonder Woman and Superman had proven, time and again, to be more under his sway when it came to making decisions.

"Let's get the tunnel finished," he said in dry tones that set her back on edge for no more reason than she had grown up believing a team was a family, not a tool.

* * *

The first thing they had done once the tunnel was finished was verify that this was certainly not Earth, or if it was, it was Earth of a far distant time. Batman's sensor kit had told them the pollution levels were too low for a post Industrial Revolution world. That Superman was getting pieces of his powers back, but not all of them, made him look for the Sun, but it was as yellow as it could be behind the clouds. He was of the opinion it was some lingering magical after effect, as he ruefully admitted that Magic had a better chance of affecting him than typical attacks.

Flash tested his speed, and discovered it was at least halved. Green Lantern worried over his Ring's charge, but when he called to it, the Battery came, mystifying them all. Batman wondered if the Ring could backtrack the Lantern's path, but Green Lantern could not seem to make it do so. Having discovered these limitations, the group fell into something of a silence, until Green Arrow got up and started to walk out of the cave.

"G.A.?" Batman rumbled warningly.

"We gotta eat, Bats. Wondie, you want to come watch my back while I be the Great White Hunter?"

"As long as we keep an eye out for a suitable sapling to make a spear. I believe I saw boar tracks," Wonder Woman agreed. 

"You'll need a crossbar for...sorry, you know that already, don't you?" Green Arrow said affably as she started to cut eyes toward him. "Come on, let's see what we can find." The pair set off together with no more protest from anyone. In fact, Superman stood, looking ready to go outside.

"We'll need more than meat," he said. "Even in winter..."

"...food can be found," Black Canary said. "Batman, loan me your cape. I know some survival tricks to help the Boy Scout there." Batman wordlessly handed it over, and she tied it around her waist, drawing the trailing edge up between her legs to make a very adequate pair of 'pants' out of the stiff material. Superman noted that, took his own cape off, and offered it to her. In minutes, she had fashioned a bolero type covering for her arms that would not impede her use of her arms.

"Very resourceful," Superman told her, before they headed out into the snowy landscape. It was only vaguely said in tones of 'I did not expect that', and Black Canary let it go.

"Green Lantern, would you help me find the appropriate wood for our fire?" Aquaman asked. "I trust you will not lead me astray into looking for a bulb wrench if you are actually helping me," he said, a hint of a joke in his eyes. The other three founders all cracked up, making Batman curious, but he maintained his stoic demeanor, though he had to admit the lurking Martian possessed a rich laugh, and Flash seemed more suited to it than his usual serious mien. 

"Alright, Fishtail, let's go find some wood." Green Lantern grinned, and the pair headed out into the snow as well, foraging well away from the cave, so that the nearby supplies would be there in case of a blizzard.

Batman looked at the layout of the cave, at the tunnel, and the stream, and tried to find some way to make it work better than it was. "Flash, any luck getting your full speed back?"

"No, Batman." Flash sounded a little disappointed, and Martian Manhunter laid a hand on his friend's shoulder, having braved the circle of light to help see to making the cave more habitable. "Still faster than Jim Thorpe, but that's about it." 

"This place is dampening all the meta abilities," Martian Manhunter said. "Even my own abilities are hindered, outside the circle of fire, despite all attempts I make to control my body."

"Wonder Woman is not at peak, though she hasn't said anything. And it seemed to me that despite recharging his ring, Green Lantern's constructs were thinner," Batman said, putting all the pieces together. "The questions are 'where are we', 'why did they take us', and 'how to get home'."

"To get those answers, we need..." Flash began, only to cut himself off, even as Batman raised a hand.

{It could be our own returning,} Martian Manhunter sent to both, though disbelief colored his mind. All three thought as one 'too soon', before Batman shifted to the shadows. Flash remained openly visible, while Martian Manhunter also sought the shadows, going as incorporeal as he could. 

The noises clarified into voices and the clank of harness and weapons. There were twelve in all, and despite the fight given to them by the three in the cave, there really was only one outcome possible.

* * *

Green Lantern and Aquaman returned first, seeing the destruction of their tunnel through the heavy snow with worry and shock. The trampled area outside the cave told them there had been large numbers, and it made both their hearts freeze inside. In silence, the daredevil pilot and the King of the Seas made their way in, alert for any enemies.

What they found was Martian Manhunter, sprawled in the distinctly alien form of his rest and meditation...as well as the form his unconsciousness caused him to take.

"Help him, Aquaman," Green Lantern said, before using his ring to sweep the cavern from wall to wall, over the stream, and up into the ceiling's icicle-clad stalactites. While he did so, Aquaman hastened to the side of the fallen alien, reaching with his limited empathic gift for the mind of their talented telepath, latching onto the link there for him.

{J'onn? Come back, J'onn.} He laid gentle hands on either side of the alien's head, stroking the temples, employing the only first aid he knew for the Martian. 

{Arthur?} The name was a soul-felt concept-word, summing up all that Aquaman was in a manner that stripped the ruler to his core, leaving him in an elemental rawness.

{easy...too much....easy} The panic and alert swept through J'onn, bracing him, making him more alert, and he drew back the intrusive level of knowledge, granting the weaker mind its self-concepts and the shielding delusions most Terrans seemed to need to deal with their lives.

{I apologize, Arthur.} That was just the name-word, as it should be when dealing with weaker minds. {They...they cast the fire toward me.} The alien form settled into the hybrid form as the Martian tried to pick himself up, looking in vain for his comrades. {Barry? Batman?} That last flicked out to include Green Lantern, while part of his mind pushed and tried hard to activate the links that were supposed to be there for him to reach all his teammates.

"Gone, J'onn," Green Lantern called softly, now that he knew there were no lurking enemies. He moved closer to the other two, chills on his soul as he considered who had been taken, who might have been taken... and immediately dismissed his chivalric senses. Neither woman on the team played 'victim' well at all.

{I cannot reach them either.} That loss, combined with their worry over what might now happen, made all three men flinch.

"Call the rest to us, J'onn," Aquaman nudged him, verbalizing strictly to try and break the Martian out of his shocked state.

"Of course." J'onn reached out, touching all the nodes in his mind, the members that were teammates, noting the closer intimacy of some versus the others, and clinging to that sensation more than he ought to. He needed to protect his team, and yet, he had failed, because of his fears.

* * *

"Flash."

The quiet call of his codename pulled on the consciousness of the Scarlet Speedster.

"Flash, wake up."

"Don't really want to, but okay," Flash told the persistent voice, aware of three things. His speed was dampened even further, to the point his vibrations were not quite enough to stay fully warm, his head was aching with the force of a blow against his skull that he only dimly remembered taking, and that Batman was his sole companion. At least it wasn't the Canary or Wonder Woman. Better that it be him and one of the other men, so that Green Arrow did not lose his mind over the chivalric insult.

"They've isolated us from the others. However, none of my methods are revealing the Manhunter here with us, despite him having been in the cave when they attacked." Batman came close, crouching near him. "You have a concussion from all I can determine."

"Feels like it." Despite the pain of concentration, Flash pushed at the more intimate link within his mind. Not the communication link, which was so muffled as to be useless right now, but the one that was J'onn/red dust/lonely/warmth in the depths of his mind. He could just barely touch it, and it felt distant to him, as best he could tell. Of course, that might just be the concussion, he realized. "Not here," he finally remembered to tell Batman. "Unless it is my cracked skull, I think he's still at the cave."

"I could not deduce anything useful from the communication link," Batman indicated in a leading tone.

Flash hesitated as he was sitting up. "Probably...ouch...because you're not one of us." He winced. "Sorry, didn't mean that quite that way. Not one of us who first formed up."

"A distinction that is eating away at our effectiveness as a team in this place." Batman pulled out a pain remedy, simple aspirin, and offered it. With his speed reduced so much, Flash decided it couldn't hurt, and took two. 

"Hey, that is not our fault," Flash protested. "You three and your...." He cut himself off, not about to launch into the ways his leadership had been challenged time and again by this man in particular.

"What?" Batman pressed.

"Okay, here's the thing. We invited you and Superman in back in the early days. You both blew us off. Then when you do come in finally, it's with this 'my way is best' attitude. Whether it is you doing your own thing without telling anyone else, or Superman trying to fight everyone's battle...and Canary will knock him on his behind for that one of these days, just ask Arrow... or Wonder Woman trusting in the two of you first and us last, none of you have truly managed to weld into the team." Flash grimaced. "Yeah, I've thought a lot about it."

"I see that." Batman considered, putting his actions and the others in that light. It still seemed to him that he had always acted in the best interests of everyone, yet appearance was a very large part of interaction with others. "Perhaps we should discuss this at greater length, once we rescue ourselves."

Flash slowly stood, and Batman followed suit, as they began the exploration of this cave's imprisonment, looking for a way to be free.

* * *

In the middle of the night, with Aquaman on guard, the forces came again. The King of the Seas shouted the alarm, and all of his comrades sprang up to fight. Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, and Superman held the entry, while Aquaman used the stream to get out around them and flank them, causing chaos in their ranks from an unexpected charge at their rear. In the rout that followed, Green Arrow managed to ensnare one of the smaller warriors, and Green Lantern subdued him quickly with the ring energies.

It was Black Canary who stood at Martian Manhunter's side, hand on his arm as he reached into the mind that was alien to his own, to learn where their comrades were. 

"Separate us in pairs...it is their plan," he intoned, probing as the warrior resisted his intrusion. 

"Too bad there's nine of us," Green Arrow quipped. 

"We are to be their testing grounds. Loki..." Martian Manhunter frowned, still not liking the idea of the full separation he saw in the making of the being's plans. "He grows bored, waiting, and brought us here to sharpen his forces for the end game."

"Ragnarok," Superman supplied helpfully, as the Martian was automatically translating everything into English for them.

"Hell with that," Green Lantern growled. "Where's Flash and the Bat?" 

"Hush, Gee Ell," Black Canary chided, her own brow furrowed as she felt how strongly Martian Manhunter was clinging to her anchoring presence, as if the touch of this warrior's mind was overwhelmingly difficult for him to cope with.

"I have it." With further exertion, he was able to force the warrior into unconsciousness. "Green Lantern?" His thought made itself clear, even as he impressed the full map in his mind on the original three team mates indelibly.

"With pleasure." The energies raced away from their cave, depositing the warrior in a cave several hundred feet away...and with a few boulders in his way of escaping.

Superman frowned briefly, but Wonder Woman reached out, signaling him to remain silent. Those moments of communication among the first five were eerie, but she had noted that Green Arrow, who joined ahead of herself and the other two late comers, accepted it as part of them, as if he knew something. She wanted to get the archer off to one side and explore that, once they had their teammates back.

"We'll need to move out now," Martian Manhunter declared. "Green Arrow? Black Canary?"

The smaller woman's jaw shifted into stubborn lines. "It's cold, yes, but you'll need my Cry before it's all said and done!"

"I can shield them both." Green Lantern extended his force fields to the other two, a thin, almost invisible sheen of green light emitting blocking the elements of the night. "They won't expect a counterstrike so close to their defeat."

"Certainly not," Aquaman agreed, before looking at Superman and Wonder Woman. "You two must punch through, no matter what, to get to Batman and Flash. We will hold the way out clear. Agreed?"

"I like the way you think, Aquaman," Wonder Woman agreed, before the team quickly left the cave to go find their missing teammates.

* * *

Batman froze in the process of getting ready to apply a small thermite charge to the prison-cave's thinnest wall. "Did you hear something?" he asked Flash, as the Speedster took a listening pose. 

"Not heard...felt. Martian Manhunter is closing." Flash grinned. "Go ahead and blow it up, Batman. It will cause a distraction and help guide them better."

"Point." Batman turned back to what he had been doing to get the charge precisely placed. There was no guarantee the chamber on the other side of this cave would open to freedom, but with the entrance of this one too thick for what he had to work with, it was an acceptable risk. "Stand clear," he said as he moved away, finding cover for himself as soon as Flash was out of the way. He hit the detonation device, listening as it clicked and then the thin wall shattered, confirming that he had found the right stress crack in its material to use. 

"Nice." Flash had already zipped to the spot, with what Batman noticed was a little more speed than earlier.

"The cave was inhibiting your ability," he said as a theory, and the Scarlet Speedster got thoughtful. 

"Maybe. Or my healing caught up to the concussion." Flash shrugged. "Ooh, I hear angry voices now." He grinned, looking more like his youthful sidekick than ever, and Batman felt his chest clench. The Dark Knight forced those thoughts back down, locking them away. He could not afford to think of Robin, or anyone else but his team.

"Let's move." Batman led the way, his back set in those serious lines of all-mission, all the time. Flash wondered at that, but then they were navigating by sound through narrow corridors and expansive caves, relying mostly on Batman's eerie ability to follow distorted noises. 

//Trust the Bat to have cave navigation down as a skill,// Flash thought to himself.

* * *

Superman heard it a moment before Wonder Woman did, the sound of more fighting ahead of them. "Did we circle?"

"No," she said, sure of it, as she lined up the sounds of their teammates holding the path of retreat open versus the sounds ahead. "Batman decided not to wait," she told him, an amused smile on her face, just before she punched an opponent in the stomach, then kneed him into unconsciousness when he doubled over.

"Evidently," Superman said with a touch of a smile himself. The fighting, he decided, was tedious enough, but eventually their efforts and those of the two being rescued led to them all meeting up amidst a number of unconscious or retreating guards.

"Martian Manhunter and the others are holding the exit," Wonder Woman supplied. 

"Knew you'd come," from Flash rode on top of Batman's own reply.

"We were working on an exit strategy."

Superman and Wonder Woman exchanged a look at that, then the four of them turned back toward their entry point, so they could all go back to their makeshift home.

* * *

Somehow, Flash was the one that was not the least bit surprised by the fact that the team had stolen the clothing of their opponents, in the time they had spent waiting for the four to regroup with them. It made sense, and allowed them all a chance to be warm without relying on powers for a change. Once they made it back to the cave, the sun was fully up, and though everyone was exhausted, they knew they had to do something to further protect themselves from the raiders.

"Traps," was Green Arrow's suggestion, and after a grimace, Green Lantern agreed with him.

"Visible defenses," Batman said, looking at the stronger members of the team. "Spear wall and trenches."

"Fortifying the entrance," Martian Manhunter added in, thinking of how they had held it in the night.

"We'll get started," Aquaman said firmly.

"In shifts," Superman added. "Half sleep, half work..." He cut himself off at the look from Batman. "What?"

"If we are going to have a single stretch of time where all of us can work, it is now. While they are regrouping from two defeats," Batman replied.

"It was a good idea, Big Blue," Black Canary said. "And if we don't finish by nightfall, that's the tactic for the next few days, maybe." She smiled to take the sting out of it, and then looked to the surroundings of their cave. "Let's get busy, guys...and gal. We're still going to need provisions, firewood, and the rest before we pass out."

"I don't need sleep, so the night watch will be mine," Martian Manhunter said. "The cold here is not bothersome to me, and outside the cave, my senses are clearer, without the interference of the fire."

"You still need time to meditate," Flash pointed out. "But that could be done during the day, and we'll build you a small screen of rock or something, to shield you from the fire."

"I'll set traps...Green Giant, mind keeping your ears on me?" Green Arrow asked with a hint of a smile toward the most alien appearing one of their crew. Martian Manhunter did smile at that, and nodded, opening the League link to be more aware of Green Arrow's awarenesses, so they would have warning if he got in trouble.

"I've got digging," Green Lantern told them.

"We'll bring trees," Superman said, pointing at himself and Wonder Woman, "if you can shape them," he finished, pointing at Flash, who nodded. 

"I'll stay on sentry up high, while Aquaman patrols low," Black Canary said. "Batman, you get provisions detail."

"That means I will also need to listen to you more firmly," Martian Manhunter said. His eyes matched those of the most closed-off human he had ever met, and slowly he received a nod. The communication link opened slowly, and Batman found that there was this other presence truly in his mind. It was intrusive, and yet...it was purposefully noticeable, to keep suspicion of influence and corruption of his own mind down to a minimum.

{Thank you,} Batman sent along it, trying to convey how much the respect for his privacy and awareness of his paranoia had impressed him.

{It is part of me, to respect the minds of all sentient beings.}

With duties decided, the heroes ventured off to ready themselves for a long enough stay to actually learn how to make their way back home without losing any of their team.

* * *

The fire crackled softly in the background. It had been nearly ten full days in this dimension, and they had not been attacked in two, not since the defenses had pushed the enemies back successfully. Now, rested, and the quiet of having been round and round in circles over how to go home having settled in on them, the fire was the sole sound to focus on beyond each other breathing.

"You know, I think it's time we all stop hiding behind the masks so much," Green Arrow finally said into the quiet. "We've fought with and for each other for over a week, and it is going to take some time to figure out how to beat that snot-nosed godling so we can go home. Now, some of us, and I'm betting lots of us, have family at home. And we're bottling it all up inside of us, and hoping they're okay. But me? I'm scared to death for my boy. I'm all he's got. And I'm tired of bottling it up, or laying it on Pretty Bird's shoulders." He reached up and peeled off the mask that hadn't come off in mixed company since arrival. "I'm Oliver Queen. Yes, that Oliver Queen. It's why I know so much about the outdoors, after my little enforced vacation several years back."

Flash pushed back his cowl, grinning over at Ollie. "I figured it out months back, and no, neither of them told me," the Speedster said. "Thanks... for helping us keep going, and joining." He looked at everyone and shrugged, before focusing on Batman. "I'm Barry Allen. Joe Normal, up until a chemistry accident in the police labs happened. We five originals did this early on, but Arrow held his because of the fact he bankrolls our base. And then there's you three, so new to us." He then indicated the rest of the original team. "Guys...and lady?"

"J'onn J'onzz," the Martian said, shifting fully alien for the moment, then into a picturesque pulp novel hero. "Or, as you prefer, John Jones, private eye."

"You still remind me of my dad like that," Black Canary said before shrugging. "Dinah Laurel Lance. Yes, the middle name has to be there; I'm named for momma in both ways."

"But you wear it more gracefully," Green Lantern said, remembering that early fight with the JSA. The uniform stripped away to show a casual man in jeans and a flannel shirt, leaving his face bare. "Hal Jordan, Captain once, now a test pilot."

"Arthur Curry... though that name is as false or true as Aquaman for me." The Atlantean shook his head. "My people say that my name is Orin." He didn't look all that comfortable with the name though.

"Like you, Aquaman...Arthur? I have two names outside of my suit." Superman gave a distinctly boyish grin his way. "And like you, J'onn, I am the sole survivor of my people."

"I know," J'onn told him, before flashing images of seeing Superman as a boy and young man, and how. The Kryptonian's eyes widened. 

"I never knew!" Superman then smiled wider. "To have someone watching over me, that's just swell to know." 

"Did he just say swell?" Dinah asked Ollie.

"He did, Kiddo," Ollie replied.

"If we're done picking on me, you can call me Clark, Clark Kent. Or Kal-El, my birth name. Clark gets my attention faster though." He grinned a little more, because Dinah had turned and swatted Ollie for the 'kiddo' remark.

"And I am called Diana, princess of Themiscrya," Wonder Woman added, before all eyes turned to Batman.

"That's a bit theatrical even for us, to leave me to the last," Batman said, a twitch of a smile on his lips making the rest of them grin or laugh. He reached up and pushed back his cowl, making Clark, Dinah, and Ollie gasp in instant recognition.

"And here I thought I was the only million dollar playboy in the club," Ollie grumped.

"Billion," the revealed Batman corrected him, ghost of a smile in his eyes. "I'm Bruce Wayne, and like Ollie, I am worried about my ward. But Robin...Dick's got Alfred, and Lucius, and others to look after him." 

Diana nodded, understanding family concerns. "Donna...that's my sidekick, will keep an eye on them. She likes her teammates."

"Tadpole," Arthur began, then glared at the snicker from Hal and Ollie. "Is a resourceful boy. But he'll pull hard to his team, with me gone. Atlantis still isn't sure of him."

"Wally, that's Kid Flash, has his family to fall back on. Including my girlfriend," Barry said. "But he's keen on his team, so I think Speedy will be watched over all the way around."

"Miss Arrowette's not active much, but he knows her," Ollie said, ignoring the skeptical look from Dinah on that one. "He'll be okay."

"And we'll all go home to our families and friends soon," J'onn said in his deep tones from the more shadowed side of the cave. They all turned his way, wondering what it was he had discovered that they hadn't beat to death earlier in the 'how do we go home' category of the night. "Now that you have all chosen to trust one another, there is a way I can see, a way to put us on equal footing with our true opponent, Loki."

"He's a god," Diana said simply. "Mortals who claim such aspirations do not end well," she added.

"I said equal footing, and I mean it in a tactical sense," J'onn said. "H'ronmeer guard us all from wishing to be gods; the League is not meant for such."

"Amen to that!" Ollie said. "The day any of you start getting fancy airs and setting yourselves up on high, I'll be there to clean your clocks."

"If he doesn't, I will," Barry followed up. "But, J'onn... you have an idea?"

J'onn hesitated, then moved closer to the fire, shying away at the last moment to sit near Arthur. "A god has the advantage of seeing everything, of having senses that are omnipotent in most ways? I can give us that. I can take away the advantage of separating us. I can make us truly one, despite the fact humans are not inherently able to touch a collective mind. Defeat Loki, and I have no doubt, from all of your impressions of him, we will be banished from this realm of his."

"Your logic is sound, but how?" Diana asked, even as Bruce frowned.

"No."

J'onn matched eyes with the Caped Crusader, seeing that the perceptive human had grasped the necessary steps involved. "We have not hit upon a plan that will work. We do not know if time of this dimension runs as it does in our world. And of us all, I have the least to lose by doing this. You might say it is a selfish thing of me, to want this."

"What? What are you suggesting, J'onn? Bruce?" Clark asked in sharp concern.

"J'onn...you are the last of your people!" Bruce argued, ignoring the rest of them for the moment. 

"And if we do this, I will no longer, ever, be alone in the way I have been since the last of my kind died." J'onn then looked at Clark. "I can make it so that all of us are one, in eight bodies."

"Jonny boy, that is one less than we have here right now," Hal said, as he glimpsed what Bruce's mind had jumped to.

Barry was up and over, crouching in front of the alien in the same heartbeat that Arthur shifted and laid a hand on his arm. "There's some other way," Barry insisted.

"My friends," J'onn began, even as Dinah and Hal moved in closer to them...and slowly, the other four came, so they all surrounded J'onn, shielding him further from the fire. "I grow weary of failing due to the fact fire is my weakness. I am tired of holding myself together. I have chosen Earth for I have lost Mars. I would actually exist more comfortably in the form I offer, but it places a burden on each of you."

"We'd be bound as individuals in a collective mind, always aware of one another, never fully alone... and the human mind is made for certain solitary needs," Bruce said.

"You can separate the Mind from the Self," J'onn said. "I would show each of you, but the Mind would always be there. By throwing yourselves into the Mind, you would be an integrated team. Fully. No one person could move without the rest coordinating for that move. If separated, you will know where each other is. Joys and griefs would all be shared, like all emotions; even if you kept it to Self, the muted reflection would filter out to the Mind."

"This is big," Barry said. "We need to think on it, J'onn."

"Of course. I would expect no less," he answered, inclining his head. "Perhaps there will be a way we find. But this option is there for you all to consider."

Dinah shifted back into Ollie's arms, as Hal joined them, his face thoughtful as he took in his best friend and his best friend's girlfriend. They all shared a long look, then looked back to J'onn. "We don't need to think it over. It comes down to it, we'll do it," Hal said, backed up by Ollie and Dinah both nodding.

J'onn looked at them, and saw how much what he had offered would shape them, change them, and almost regretted making the offer, yet... for them, with so much kinship in the making, it might actually help more than hurt, in the long run. He nodded, then went toward the entrance, to take up his watch as the night darkened outside. The rest of the team settled to their usual sleeping places, mostly individual, though Ollie managed to keep a hand close enough for Dinah to hold, and Hal was none too far from them. Each of the members of the League gave J'onn's plan a long thoughtful consideration, before sleep finally claimed them.

* * *

Morning came and there was no sign of their night watchman, though tracks a little ways down from the cave said much. Batman crouched in the snow, fingers touching the refrozen pool of water and soot next to him. "J'onn patrolled... they waited until he was not in line of sight of the cave, and then firebombed him, likely by magic. His powers seem to dissipate in the presence of flame, so he could not call for us."

"The nightmares that woke us?" Black Canary questioned, her face going more pale than usual. 

"Probably him returning to consciousness, but not coherence," Batman reasoned. "Especially as Aquaman felt it strongest."

"My empathic link to the hind-thought part of the brain?" Aquaman asked, receiving a nod. His face tightened to a fierce anger. "We have to find him." He was still reacting to those ghoulish images of his nightmare, thinking of his teammate tortured by flame.

"Of course we do. And as you have the strongest connection to him, you're going to lead us," Batman told him. "Everyone, get ready to move out."

"You know this is a trap, to lure us away from our defenses?" Superman pressed the Caped Crusader.

Batman just smiled, dark and cold. "I'm counting on it."

* * *

This time, Batman told them everything. Flash agreed with the plan, and explained it to the team.

So it was that the very fierce, hot-headed team of Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, and Superman attacked from the front door, so to speak. Flash, Batman, and Black Canary took another, less easy entrance, one the forces of Loki had never thought to guard against. All three heroes reeked when they emerged, but the sewer run had been ungated, unguarded, and entirely too easy to find for someone who had studied Norse lore and history.

The mead hall they had come to, based on Aquaman's tracking the empathic link, was full of warriors eager to fight the fierce opponents, and few noted that it was not all of their hand-picked opponents in that first rush of battle. The three who had entered from behind each had a task that they now carried out while their brave friends held the fight. Flash spotted the captive Martian, and made his way that way to retrieve him. Batman slipped from shadow to shadow, placing the last of his explosives and incendiary devices he had in his pouches.

Black Canary waited, hidden, for both men to return to their entry point, along with the unconscious Martian. Her eyes flicked from them to the fighting and back again, keeping a cool head, and humming a little to warm her voice under the noise. Batman had set the last device, and was considering moving to help Flash in securing the Martian, when they were noticed, and the back part of the fighters turned toward the intruders with shouts of rage and threats.

"Now, Canary!" Batman dove toward Flash, helping shield Martian Manhunter and taking them all to the floor as the small woman turned loose her voice at its most devastating pitch. As soon as the first wave lanced out, Batman and Flash crawled under it, each helping pull the alien along, regretting the necessity. As her voice swelled to use the acoustics of the hall, Flash winced, even through the muffling he had stuffed under his cowl, and Batman empathized despite his own hearing protection. They managed to get the Martian back to her as the echoing acoustics began to affect even her resiliency against her own power, which was when Batman detonated the devices he had staged out.

Under cover of the chaos and confusion, between her attack and his, the three were able to get their injured member free of the hall, and their teammates withdrew from the battle with only minor injuries.

* * *

Diana's eyes were worried as she returned from where she and Arthur had been trying to treat the Martian for his fire-induced injuries. Dinah looked at her face, and then turned to burrow into Ollie's chest, letting him comfort her against the fear of losing her friend.

"He's barely able to hold his mind in one place," Diana said softly. "His body is not healing the damage, and he keeps trying to shape away from the broken pieces of it."

Barry shook his head. "He's suffering, because he tried to protect us, again." He looked at Hal, who nodded, as they remembered the last time and that had been a fast injury, not a prolonged torture as this had been. 

"Come on, Dinah." Hal reached for his teammate, and was glad when both she and his best friend came, with Barry following them. The four of them settled along the side of J'onn's body, hands reaching out to touch what wasn't injured of it. Arthur looked up, his eyes wet, as they did; he could feel J'onn wanting to die, felt him giving up.

"Arthur...can he still...can he hear us? Feel us?" Barry asked, as the links in his mind seemed so dim.

"Yes." The King of the Seas shifted, cradling J'onn's head on his legs, hands along his cranial spines, and closed his eyes. "He takes comfort, to know he is not alone now, that he won't die without being remembered."

"No!" Dinah shifted and gripped at J'onn's hand. {You can't leave us!}

{ _pain/lonely/dying_ } Dinah's mind was assaulted by all of this, but she gritted her teeth, and held on.

{What you offered....we're here. Escape the pain! Come to us!} Her will was reinforced by similar offers from Hal, from Barry, from Arthur. Oliver leaned in near his best friend and his girlfriend. 

{Jonny boy, let us save you; don't you dare give up this fight; we didn't win yet!} Ollie reinforced, pushing on his own, lesser link to the Martian.

The tableaux of the original five, with their bankrolling member, was joined in short order by the three newer members. Wonder Woman focused her thoughts through the tiara to be certain J'onn heard and understood. {J'onn, we won't let go. If you can't live in that form, we want you to do as you offered. All of us.}

{ _worry/pain/risk_ } The wave of those emotions included them all, but it was Bruce who answered, in his mind and out loud so all could hear him.

"Life is risk, and we dare higher than any mortals ever have... let us carry you now, J'onn, so that you may live free and whole once more," he told the dying alien.

One the heel of his words, the world within their minds exploded with that pain, followed by the chaos of nine life experiences, one of which dated well over a century, merged into one tapestry shared by all. The crisp nights of a Martian landscape pressed in on the crystalline fortress of another, while memories of bats in a cave warred against the exhilaration of flight. The thrill of trying to outdo all bids for the right to go measured up against the pleasure of long training bouts amidst the memories of studying hard to get the degree needed for a dream job. Survival on an island meshed into the strangeness of learning the ways of a lost people. All nine lives gave flashes and memories and emotions, until all knew the tragedies, the motives, and the joys of their pasts, all while the ninth body slowly consumed itself from the inside out, until only dust, and the joined Mind, remained.

* * *

It took them three days to fully understand how to use the Mind, to let themselves be one in their fighting, proven by necessity on the warriors of Loki. Three days was enough to draw the ire of the godling to them, to fight them in all his own raging glory.

Three days of training, and they were the League more fully than they ever had been. Loki, nor his minions, could face their combined might, when what one knew, the others did, and they reacted as one.

Within them, J'onn served as heart, as focus, and guided them. 

On the verge of his defeat, Loki shattered the world he had made, expelling his captives, forever changed by him.

Somewhere, Odin smiled. This endgame would go far different, with such a guard as the Justice League had been shaped into.


	2. Into the Breach

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Titans face their own challenge in trying to step up to the plate.

They'd been having difficulty making meetings. Robin was so busy in Gotham, Speedy had trouble just getting out of Star City, and Aqualad was being groomed to do more things for Atlantis. Wonder Girl made it the most often, but even Kid Flash was having a hard time getting free to help out.

Robin was ready to tell them all they'd just stay in touch, and it would all be fond memories. He was pretty sure the others felt the same…except maybe Speedy, who was edgier than usual lately.

He opened his mouth, but cut himself off when Snapper Carr, 'mascot' to the Justice League, stumbled in through the front of the cave. He looked beaten, and tear tracks marred the soot and dirt on his face.

"The Justice League…it…vanished."

Snapper's words fell into a sudden harsh silence, as the teenagers struggled to digest what it meant. 

"The whole League?" Robin asked.

"Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, The Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Green Lantern, Flash, Black Canary, and Green Arrow." Snapper shook his head. "Just like the JSA, so long ago…just, there they were fighting, and then…they weren't." He was still in a state of shock, and Robin frowned.

"They'll be back. They always figure these things out." His chums echoed his assurances to Snapper, but the bright and cheerful young man was lost in the oblivion of a world without a League.

* * *

The first week was quiet. The villains had apparently decided that if they stuck their heads up, the League would swoop in and take them down, that it was all a hoax.

By the end of the second week, Robin was contending with larceny and violence on a scale he had never imagined, in Gotham alone. He had heard, over the phone, that it was the same in Central, Gateway, and Star City. The world's villains were going crazy, in the absence of the team they had come to know and fear.

As the third week ended with Alfred stitching a three inch gash in his forearm, Robin knew they needed to do something. There had to be more people out there, more heroes to help them.

Most of all, there needed to be a team to inspire them, one that was more than the sum of its parts.

* * *

"You really think we can?" Wonder Girl rubbed at a still sore bruise on her thigh.

"If Robbie thinks we can, we can," Speedy snapped, defensive and on edge, his eyes sunk back into their sockets with fatigue.

"We're barely on our feet," Kid Flash complained. "And you want us to tackle the **world**?!"

"I'm saying, if they see us out there, taking on the big threats, the ones like us, like our mentors, will rise to the top, to help out of shame, if nothing else." Robin looked toward Aqualad, noting how silent he had been.

"I'm here for the long haul…Mera tried, but now they blame me for him being gone." The husky teen shook the water out of his mop of curls. "I just have to be careful of my limits, Robin."

"We'll all keep those in mind, Aqualad…on all of us."

* * *

**In Absence of the League, Titans Rise to the TOP!**

The press was being high-handed in their handling of the fact the League had vanished, with conspiracy theories abounding, but the sight of five slim teenagers working together to fend off the combined efforts of Solomon Grundy, Cheetah, and Captain Cold had done the world good. Robin's precise leadership and the team's dedication had everyone's tongues wagging over those 'poor, brave children.'

Speedy had shrugged it off, flinching away when Wonder Girl had tried to inspect his arm after the fight. Kid Flash had whooped and hollered for a good minute about how great they were.

It was Aqualad who noted the odd girl in the long cloak and hood, not long after Speedy left, claiming he had to get back to Star City. While he did have Miss Arrowette helping him, he never liked to be gone for long from the city. Robin was a little more likely to stick around, having full faith in Batgirl and Batwoman both. Kid Flash had said he was getting by, but Wonder Girl had caught a glimpse of a red blur in his city, leading to rumors that a new Flash might be there.

"Can we help you?" Aqualad said, pushing up out of his grotto pool, making the other three turn.

"I hope, in time…for now, I offer my help to you." She pushed back her hood, to reveal jet-black hair and a tiny gem in the center of her forehead. The large earrings she wore drew attention away, some, from the fact her eyes glinted with knowledge no human was meant to have.

"And you are?" Robin asked, politely, as the team ranged between the stranger and their cave.

"Raven. I only wish to help…and I know where more who will help are."

* * *

They found him cradled in the sobbing Miss Arrowette's arms. He hadn't come to their call for help, making three League calls in a row. Robin had called the lady archer with worry, and she had set out to find him, admitting he had not been seen in several days.

Raven knelt at their side, laying a hand on the redhead's brow with concentration. She looked troubled, a fact that set the rest of the team to unease.

"He has poisons in his veins," Raven said. "I am unsure if he will live, and in what manner if he does survive."

Miss Arrowette sobbed. "The street toughs here…they said he was a buyer…said he claimed to need it, to keep going. I never…I didn't know…."

Robin was shaken by the sight of his friend, and gestured to Wonder Girl. The Amazon lifted the boy she had flirted with for three years out of the heroine's arms, cradling him close.

"Go home, to your daughter. We'll find someone to help in Star City," Robin told the lady archer, who nodded mutely.

* * *

**Boy Archer Launches Drug Awareness Tour**

**Mighty Titans Continue On as More Capes Appear**

Robin fingered the newly made costume, looking over at Aqualad. He looked back with a smile, while Wonder Girl wiped at the tears in her eyes.

"It's time." He straightened up. "The costume for my beginnings as a circus brat. The darker colors for my mentor. The name for my hero."

"And how long until the little boy that snoops on you takes up the Robin mantle?" Kid Flash teased the newly christened Nightwing.

"Who knows? I think we all know just what a determined kid can do now, though…" Speedy said, still too thin, but well on the way to recovering. Wonder Girl squeezed him tighter, having promised herself to never let him get so far from her again.

"What about the rest of us? Are we magically going to grow up?" Aqualad asked, a playful smile at his lips.

They all looked around at one another, then burst out laughing.

"Hell no…that was all Fearless Leader's job!" Speedy said, a sentiment quickly echoed by them all as they went out to share the news with the younger team members.


	3. The Return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And then the League comes back, changed.

The world might not have been ready for the return of the JLA, but the Teen Titans...now just the Titans, were more than glad to know their lost loved ones were back...save one

The League had been locked in a dimension of eternal war, never able to die, never able to win in some hellish battle for the fate of the world. The pull of despair on them, the lost and lonely grief they all suffered even as they struggled to be the heroes they had to be.

J'onn had known they would never survive it sane, unless he could be the bridge to breach their lone sufferings. He had never hesitated, giving each of them a piece of himself, until there was nothing left of the Martian, save the soul shards each League member carried.

The Titans knew their former mentors were vastly changed, but none of them except Raven knew just how much. The empath, unknown to the returning heroes, was well aware of the telepathic web that wove their lives, their souls together, the last legacy of a dead race, given with love from J'onn to save his team.


End file.
